“Rest” as a tool to Success

Work is as important as ‘NON-work’i.e, Rest!  What do you do when you are not doing any work is very essential to transform your life. A lot of stuff is disrupting your workplace like the change in demography, globalization, technology, automation etc. But this force of Nonwork is also one major factor for disruption of your workspace and a hindrance to your performance.

If you look back in history, you will find that the most creative scientists, thinkers, authors, and politicians were very serious about ‘REST’.Times have changed from what used to be when Einstien or Morrison lived and your day job is completely different than theirs, you can still pick up lessons from their lives and practice.

You should start practicing rest before you have a burnout; if you are already there, still it is a good time to take this seriously and apply strategies that could enable you to Rest. Do it before you eventually crash. We cannot be as fit or swift as Usain bolt but we can always apply some of the tricks that could transform our lives.

Here are a few tips to make  your share of Nonwork time effective:

Take Rest as a Mandate

You will not be able to work hard if you do not take rest seriously. Success and Rest are best friends; Do not treat rest as an absence of work but take it deliberately to be successful.

Be Focussed

Create your daily schedule for uninterrupted periods of focused and specific work rather than a day that is full of distractions and unfocused work. By doing this you will accomplish more in lesser time and make space for rest.

Alternate work and rest

If you want to be creative, alternate intensive work period with a deliberate rest period. If you concentrate really hard on a problem, your subconscious mind will tempt you to work on it.

Start Early

You will be amazingly productive if you get to the office an hour early and return back early. Make it a habit to reach earlier than the time you are supposed to reach.

Detach

Leave your work in the office. If carry your work to your free time, you will be less productive and resilient. When you go on a vacation, don’t attend to emails, phone calls etc. This one rule will make you more resilient and productive at work.

Switch off devices

Disconnect to your devices during Rest time. Our world is obsessed with technology and with technology, we carry all our work along with us. Detachment from work is not possible without detaching from the devices.

Take off from work

Ideally, you should take a vacation from work once every three months. This would increase your energy and make you more resilient to work stressors.

Engage in deep play activities

If you want to have a long and productive life, cultivate hobbies. It could be any activity that is not a part of your work and has the capacity to give you the same psychological rewards but in a relaxing setting and without the frustration of a daily job.

Get plenty of exercise and sleep

Exercise will help your brain perform better due to more intake of oxygen. Sleep deprivation is not going to make you successful. In today’s work-obsessed culture this could be an indicator of commitment to one’s job but it is a myth. Sleep with no only provide rest to your physical body but to your brain as well and will also remove toxins that are accumulated throughout the day.

Take care of your rest time so that you can avoid overwork and burnout later.

Also, read our Blog on Burnout